Soccer fans are in a frenzy for the World Cup kick-off, but the opening ceremony is dividing many. British singer Robbie Williams has reaped harsh criticism from his fellow citizens. DW revisits his career in pictures.
Image: Reuters/K. Pfaffenbach
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Revisiting the career of multi-millionaire entertainer Robbie Williams
He's a superstar, but critics are certainly coming down hard on the bad boy turned good boy — turned what now? His kick off of the FIFA World Cup, despite Western sanctions, shows how he's always reinventing himself.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Sputnik/M. Blinov
Taking the stage at the World Cup
Despite criticism in the run-up, Robbie Williams took to the soccer field and then the stage at the World Cup 2018. More of a brief affair than a drawn-out event, he belted out excerpts of some of his most popular songs, "Let Me Entertain You" and "Rock DJ," dueting "Angels" with Russian soprano Aida Garifullina. He did not treat the audience to a blurb from his 2016 hit "Party Like A Russian."
Image: Reuters/K. Pfaffenbach
From snotty brat to pop crooner
Robbie Williams has been in the music business for over 27 years. He loved performing even as a kid, winning his first talent show at the age of three. Williams played around during his youth, didn't work hard in school, and took small jobs. Then, in 1990, he joined the boy band Take That at the age of 16.
Image: Sony Music
A skyrocket career
The United States had New Kids on the Block at the time. The boy band concept proved promising and Take That take the lead in Great Britain with Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Mark Owen, Robbie Williams, Jason Orange (left to right). It worked in a big way. The five-year balance: 48 million records sold, 20 top-10 hits, 12 number-one hits, several platinum albums, and numerous awards.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/empics/N. Munns
Royal fans
That kind of success didn't go unnoticed by The Royal Family. So the golden boys got their chance to shake hands with the Prince of Wales. Take That enjoyed their biggest success in 1995 when the single "Back for Good" topped the charts in 47 countries - even in the US. But it all became a bit too much for Robbie, who left the band in 1995. Take That dissolves the following year.
There's no party without Robbie. He made no mystery of his alcohol and drug consumption. And, Robbie no longer wanted to heed the strict requirements of the music management, who even tried to control his private life. When he left the band, he sent thousands upon thousands of female fans into a frenzy. Special support hotlines were set up to prevent disappointed fans from doing something stupid.
Image: Picture-Alliance/dpa/Photoshot
A phoenix rises up from the ashes
After Robbie's departure from Take That, the tabloids focused only on the singer's partying. All the nitty-gritty details about club nights, the ensuing crashes, and his weight gain were reported. Robbie seemed to be at the end of his rope. But, that wasn't the case. Williams made a splash again in 1996 with his cover version of George Michael's "Freedom." This time around, he was thin and sober.
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Life Thru a Lens
Then, Robbie met his future co-author, Guy Chambers. The album Life Thru a Lens (1997) was only a mediocre success in the beginning. The right singles hadn't been figured out yet — that is, until just before Christmas, when the single "Angels" was released. It marked the beginning of one of the most successful solo careers ever. Robbie was now ready to take off. And that's just what he did.
Image: imago/teutopress
One hit after the next
From then on, Robbie could do whatever he wanted. His concerts became ever bigger events. He opened every show with "Let Me Entertain You" — and it remains a party classic to this day. "Millennium," "No Regrets" and "Strong" scooped the market, going platinum several times and topping numerous charts. Robbie Williams was filling stadiums and could make 60,000 people jump with a mere hand gesture.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/LaPresse Valerio
Bad boy
Sing When You're Winning was Robbie's third album to rock the market, with him crooning "Kids" with Kylie Minogue and making "Supreme" and "Rock DJ" mega hits. Then, Robbie decided to buck the music industry by recording a swing album in 2001 with classics by the "Rat Pack." His record label was floored.
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Swing When You're Winning
Despite all the prophecies of doom, the swing album became a global success. Robbie, not yet 30, sang the songs of his old heroes Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Junior and Dean Martin. Decked out in a tuxedo, he sang classics like "Mr. Bojangles" and "My Way" in front of a huge orchestra on the Royal Albert Hall stage. The DVD of this concert became one of the best-selling music DVDs ever.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Curtis
Leaving Guy Chambers
Robbie made his last album with Guy Chambers in 2002. Label EMI took on Robbie for some €127 million ($140 million) — an unheard of contract sum. Robbie's last super hit "Feel" was on the Escapology album. Following the break with Chambers, Robbie tried out different styles with various producers.
Image: picture alliance/AP/E. Schulz
World record
Even if the records that followed didn't cause the mass craze his former ones had, his live act was still a huge success. When advance tickets went on sale in the fall of 2005 for his world tour, he sold 1.6 million within a day, landing a Guinness World Record.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/B. Pedersen
Reunited
In 2005, Take That dropped a bombshell: They reunited. At first, it was without Robbie. He didn't join up with them again until four years later, when the five embarked on their second career, garnering precious medal and awards once again. Then, in 2011, the group took a break, with Robbie and the others each concentrating on their solo careers again.
Image: Universal Music
The father role suits him
Of course, there have always been women in Robbie's life. But the right one ended up being Ayda Field, whom he married in 2010. During that time, he stopped using drugs, and became a caring father. Daughter Theodora was born in 2012, son Charlie two years later. But the happy family life threw him a curve ball: He was no longer able to come up with any good songs.
Image: Twitter
Back to the drawing board
The crisis seemed to be over in 2016, when he released his new album, The Heavy Entertainment Show. Reunited with Guy Chambers and joined by illustrious guests, it was his 11th studio album and reflected much of his musical career. Now, despite his 2016 "Party Like a Russian" quip, critics are asking him to reflect over his multi-million-dollar gigs for affluent Russians, as well as the World Cup.
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British pop star Robbie Williams sees performing at the opening ceremony of the World Cup as an honor: "Something like this happens and you pinch yourself," he told press agency Reuters. "I'm pinching myself again... And I just don't want to get too overwhelmed because I know how big the stage is."
However, some people think he should be pinching himself even harder.
British politicians and activists have railed on millionaire entertainer Robbie Williams for agreeing to perform at the FIFA World Cup opening ceremony on Thursday. They urged him to follow the lead of global players as well as the royal family and refuse to attend the event.
Bill Browder, a British businessman turned human rights campaigner, who reveals his experience in Russia in the best-seller Red Notice: How I Became Putin's No.1 Enemy, tweeted: "There's lots of ways to make money @robbiewilliams, but selling your soul to a dictator shouldn't be one of them. Shame on you."
Heading up the global Magnitsky justice campaign, Browder is a former client of Russian anti-corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who was beaten to death while in police detention in Moscow in 2009. His arrest in 2008 and subsequent death triggered international media attention as well as inquiries into fraud and human rights violations in Russia.
The Guardian also noted other damning remarks by Labour MP Stephen Doughty, over the singer's intended World Cup performance. "It is surprising and disappointing to hear that such a great British artist as Robbie Williams, who has been an ally of human rights campaigns and the LGBT+ community, has apparently agreed to be paid by Russia and FIFA to sing at the World Cup opener," he said.
He won't 'party like a Russian'
Robbie Williams' press crew has declined comment on the criticism. Williams, however, has sung at private parties thrown by affluent Russians in the past.
He told Reuters news agency that he enjoyed visiting the country. The Guardian reported that he had said he was "happy and excited" and to perform at the opening, and that it was the "fulfillment of a boyhood dream."
Williams' 2016 song "Party like a Russian" reaped criticism from some Russian listeners, who chose to overlook the tongue-in-cheek attitude in the song lyrics about an oligarch: "Alleviate the cash from a whole entire nation / Take my loose change and build my own space station."
Williams has said that the hit was not about Vladimir Putin. "It's more of a Monty Python-esque kind of humor. I'm not mocking anybody. It's just a pop record," he told Reuters. Still, he also said that he would avoid performing it at the World Cup opening ceremony.
DW's sports commentator was glad that the act was "a mercifully short 14 minutes" Image: Reuters/M. Shemetov
Speaking out?
In a statement, FIFA said it was eager for the opening show, inviting fans to "party with us in Russia … for an unforgettable show."
Russian soprano Aida Garifullina will join Williams in the opening music extravaganza ahead of the first match between Russia and Saudi Arabia.
Russia is eager to use the soccer event to demonstrate that despite Western sanctions imposed over its annexation of Crimea and its role in a rebellion in eastern Ukraine, it is a top international player.
The organization Human Rights Watch has urged world leaders to refrain from attending the opening event, pointing to Russia's human rights record and its involvement in the Syrian war.
"We certainly see the way the Russian government and President Putin is using the World Cup and in particular the opening ceremony as a way of legitimizing his power and his authority," the group's director for Europe and Central Asia, Hugh Williamson, told Reuters news agency.
"We'd be happy to brief (Williams) on the human rights situation in Russia ... so that he's well informed when he gets there. He could also make a positive contribution if he speaks out during his visit," Williamson said.
